Boris Karloff had decided he would not play the Monster a fourth time. Correctly, he predicted that the Monster would become the butt of bad jokes and would be parodied over and over. It was time for a new man to step in the giant's shoes. Who more perfect than Lon Chaney Jr at the time, hot off from filming the Wolfman?
Ghost begins in the village of Frankenstein, who's residents beleive the village cursed by the evil and murders of its past. They demand that the remains of castle Frankenstein be razed to the ground. Local weirdo Igor (Lugosi), still inhabits the castle, and as it is being destroyed, discovers the monster, alive, and, well enough. He takes the Monster to Visaria to blackmail the younger of Frankenstein's sons into fully reviving the Monster, and mayhem ensues.
One of the problems with this movie, is the attempt to treat much of the material as comedy and it doesn't pay off. Lon Chaney Jr doesnèt bring much to the role of the Monster however, and this is noticable throughout the picture. The classic universal trappings are all here though, foggy graveyard, fantastic sets and angry villagers. As far as the classic films go, its a lesser effort, but still worth it. Bela Lugosi is again, fantastic as Igor while some of Universals stock cast are here: Evelyn Ankers, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Belamy and Lionel Atwill even. Good for a cold and wet night, see this one. THREE STARS OUT OF FIVE
Jesus, 3 out 5 stars? Just rewatched this as part of my Halloween viewing, and it's baaad. Son was not so hot, but this is a big, monster-sized step down. Consider: how sad is it that Friday the 13th part 4, A Nightmare on Elm Street part 4, hell, even Halloween part 4 are all better than Frankenstein part 4? Thank god it's only an hour long, 'cause I couldn't possibly sit through another minute of this dreck. I mean, it's no The Fog, but it's still crap.
ReplyDelete1 out of 4 stars.
Harsh rating. Wouldn't say Halloween 4 is better. Final Chapter definitely. Though I easily could have given this less. As bad as some of it is, some of it is quite good though Lon Chaney Jr is the worst Monster.
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